Pesto Zucchini Noodles with Chicken Sausage

Pesto Zucchini Noodles with Chicken Sausage

  This was really yummy. I did make a few changes though! :)

  First I sauteed half an onion, red pepper flakes, garlic and the chopped chicken sausages in a little bit of olive oil. Then I added 3 spiralized zucchini (the store had no summer squash) straight to the pan and seasoned it with pepper, a tiny bit of salt and the whole jar of pesto. Then I stirred it and let it sit for a minute to warm up the zucchini before I took it off the heat. 

  I spiralized most of the zucchini, but I didn't know what to do with the ends so I just chopped them up. It's not as pretty as the recipe picture though lol.

  For my son and husband I made some crescent rolls, but I ate it as is and it was super filling with the sausages. I'll definitely make it again.

  I only spiralized a little bit of my finger lol.

Click here for the Pesto Zucchini Noodles with Chicken Sausage Recipe

5 Point Lunch with Trader Joe's Items

 

  This whole lunch was 5 points, I only counted the points for the Turkey Corn Dog from Trader Joe's, everything else was zero points. Here is the breakdown:

- 1 Turkey Corn Dog. 5 points. I microwaved it for 30 seconds to get the inside heated, then I air fried it for 2 minutes. It was perfectly crunchy and delicious.

- About a cup of zig zag butternut squash. I sprayed it with cooking spray and tossed it with Trader Joe's Everything but the Elote seasoning. I then air fried at 400 for 7 minutes, shook everything, then air fried for 4 more minutes. 0 points. Super delicious, and if it was cheaper for the amount you get, I'd be buying it all the time.

- Salad mix with 1/4 cup mozzarella (0 points), a couple shakes of Everything but the Elote seasoning (I'm obsessed), about 2 tbs Walden Farms Chipotle Ranch dressing (yuck, I'm not picky at all but this is terrible, I'm trying to use the bottle though) and some Plantain Croutons for 0 points for what I used. Oh, also some cherry tomatoes from my parents garden. 

- Sugar Free Ketchup. This is a little over a tbs and I didn't use the whole thing. 

Filling and yum :)

Cream Cheese Chicken Lasagna with Zucchini 5 Points

 

                       Yes I know my photo does not look as tasty as the one in the recipe.

  Italian is not my favorite food (unless it's pizza), I like it but if it were up to me I'd choose other cuisines first. But my family LOVES Italian, it's their favorite. So I try and make something Italian at least once a week. 

  I followed the recipe exactly, except I cooked the chicken in the Insta Pot instead of the slow cooker since I was to lazy to get it ready in the morning. 

  For the zero point marinara, I used this Pizza and Pasta Magic seasoning. It's really good, we like it better then regular Italian seasoning. It does have some heat from the red pepper flakes, so it might be to much if your kids are little. We buy it at Meijer. 

Click Here for the Cream Cheese Chicken Lasagna Recipe from The Pound Dropper

  For the zucchini side I just diced up half an onion, but I should of done a full one and cooked it in a skillet with a tsp of olive oil and a spray of Pam for like 5 minutes, then added 2 diced zucchini's. I tossed it with Kinders Master Salt and it took oh maybe 12 minutes to cook. I was going to dice up some cherry tomatoes to toss in that I need to use up but I was again...lazy. I was tired ok, I'm still getting used to waking up at 5am to get my son ready for school, even though he's been in school for like 3 months. But anyway, I absolutely love Kinders Master Salt, it makes everything taste amazing.

  So the lasagna is 5 points a serving, and the zucchini was free. Nice low point dinner!

 

In some sad news, the new Animal Crossing New Horizon's update came out today, and my son lost my Switch charger so I can't even play it yet. 

Spaghetti Squash Alfredo with Italian Cheese Stuffed Chicken 5 Points

 

This recipe was saved from a WW Facebook group awhile ago, and I can't find which one it was! The only thing I did differently was I seasoned the squash with garlic and Italian seasonings. Also we had a side salad with 0 point dressing.

Spaghetti Squash Alfredo and Italian Stuffed Chicken with a tossed salad.
 
Spaghetti Squash Alfredo
Serves 4 (1 point per serving on blue)

INGREDIENTS
* 1 spaghetti squash
*  cooking spray
* 1/2 tablespoon garlic salt
* 4 laughing cow cheese wedges garlic and herb

INSTRUCTIONS
* Slice spaghetti squash in half, longwise. Remove the seeds and the core�
* Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with the garlic salt�
* Place, cut side down, on a microwave safe dish and take a fork and carefully fork up the skin. Microwave for 8-10 minutes, until the skin is slightly soft to the touch�
* Or bake in the oven on a baking tray, cut side down, at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour�
* Once cooked, fork up the insides of the squash �
* Add the laughing cow cheese wedges and mix until completely melted, 2 per each side of the squash�

Stuffed Italian Chicken
Serves 4 (4 points per breast on blue)

Preheat oven 350 degrees
4 chicken breasts
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup Ragu Simply Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce (3 points)
1 3/4 cup Low Fat Mozzarella Cheese,  (reserve 3/4 cup) (14 points)
2 Tbsp of Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp of Minced Garlic

Mix 1 cup of cheese with seasoning, garlic and beaten egg, set aside.
Create a pocket in each breast, fill each pocket with cheese mixture
place in casserole dish, S&P bake 35 minutes.
After 35 minutes, spoon sauce over the breasts and top each with equal amounts of reserved cheese.
Bake an additional 5 minutes to melt cheese and heat sauce.
Be sure your chicken is 165 degrees internal temp, remove from oven, let rest 8-10 minutes

Blackened Shake and Bake Chicken, Roasted Broccoli and Potatoes with a Side Salad. 5 Points

  I had a little trouble figuring the point values for this dinner, so it's kind of an estimate.

  I cut up 3 chicken breasts into semi nugget shape since I wanted to try cooking them in the air fryer and I wanted to make sure they'd cook all the way. I marinated the chicken in pickle juice and ranch seasoning for about 4 hours. Then covered them in Shake and Bake seasoning that I added Kinder's Blackened Seasoning to. I air fried them at 400 for 5 minutes each side, and they were slightly dry so I could of done 8-9 minutes. According to the WW app, 1/8 a packet of Shake and Bake chicken is 1 point, so just to be safe I calculated each serving as 2 points.....but I could be totally wrong!

  I chopped up a head of broccoli and about 5 yellow potatoes, and when I put that in the recipe builder it came out to 3 points for the potatoes for 6 servings. I tossed the broccoli and potatoes in cooking spray, Kinder's Master Salt and some black pepper. I roasted them for about a half hour in a 400 degree oven.

 For the other sides we had a salad with Walden Farms Chipotle Ranch dressing.....which I won't be buying again. I like that it's 0 points, but it has almost a cola flavor to me, I think I'd rather spend a point or two on something that actually tastes good. But I don't want to waste it so we'll use up the bottle. I also chopped up some cherry tomatoes from my parents garden, but I forgot to take a pic of that. My son and husbands salad also had some leftover bacon crumbled in it. My son and I also had some cantaloupe because it's the best :)

Mississippi Pulled Chicken, Brown Rice and Steamed Broccoli 5 Points on Blue

 I absolutely love Mississippi Pulled Chicken/Beef. I love the hint of spicy from the peppers and the gravy mixture is just so savory.....it's the best. I cooked up a batch of it in the Instant Pot for lunches throughout the week, I don't usually use my Instant Pot because half the time I never get it right and get "burn" notices. But this recipe worked perfect. 

I cooked 2 cups brown rice and chopped up a head of broccoli for the week. When I wanted lunch, I just tossed some broccoli in a bowl with a little water for a few minutes until steamed. I served it with a 1/2 cup rice and mixed it all together, perfection.

- 5oz Mississippi Pulled Chicken. 2 points.

- 1/2 cup cooked brown rice. 3 points.

- About 3/4 cup broccoli. 0 points.

Here is the recipe for the Mississippi Pulled Chicken - by The Pound Dropper

 

 

 

 

5 Point Lunch Including Starbucks

I get up at 5am every day to get my oldest ready for school. Normally I go back to bed at like 7am after he's all dropped off and I get home. But the past few days I've started to immediately come home and go work out on the treadmill for 30-40 minutes. What's happening to me?? Who am I?? No but seriously, it's been nice and I feel better, hopefully I can keep it up.

My youngest, Zach (he's 10) usually wakes up around 6am as we are getting ready, either we are to loud or the dogs are playing and that wakes him up. Since we were up and ready after I worked out, we decided to go to Target! I wanted to find some warm clothes for us, but Target's clothes have not been good lately, Walmart's been having way cuter clothes.....no idea what's happening with that. But I picked up these Ritz Crisp & Thins that are 13 for 2 points, or 18 for 3! We also stopped at Starbucks, which is rare because the only Starbucks near us is inside the Target, no drive thu's nearby unfortunately. I got a venti cold brew with sugar free vanilla and cold foam. I'd never had it before, it's delicious and only 2 points! 

So when we got home I cut up an apple and had this for a lunchy snack thing. Filling and yummy.

- 13 Crisp & Thins Cream Cheese & Onion. 2 points.

- 1 Laughing Cow Garlic and Herb Wedge. 1 Point

- Starbucks Cold Brew with Sugar Free Vanilla and Cold Foam. 2 Points. Could be zero points if you don't get the cold foam.

- 1 Apple. 0 Points